Testing the Usability of Time-Geographic Maps for Crime Mapping

Time geography offers a rich framework for representing movement across space and time. An extension of time geography to crime mapping, as proposed by the models discussed in this chapter, requires an accounting for victim and offender mobility under event-related constraints (e.g. accessibility to a crime scene). This chapter discusses results from a study that evaluates the usability of 3D space-time cube maps for representing crime patterns. Also ­considered is the utility of the time-geographic framework for exploring crime events that occur at unknown points in space and time. To this end, this chapter discusses the problem of crime activities that are not amenable to point-based mapping, potential alternative visualization methods using time-geographic techniques, and the procedures and results of usability tests wherein participants were asked to interpret maps that incorporated various time-geographic ­attributes. The overall purpose of the study was to assess the practicality of using time geography within a crime mapping context.